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Chapter 5
Measures of Variation

5.1 Introduction

Events of nature vary from time to time. People keep on changing their location,
motion, physical appearance, skin reaction to different chemicals, height, weight, hair
color, eye color, ideas, and even values in life. Usually, the heights of a group of people
with the same race tend to converge to a certain common value. For example, if the mean
height of Filipino males is approximately 5 feet and 6 inches, then this means that most
Filipino male adults have heights that are clustering about this value. The extent of the
clustering of the heights of the Filipino males about a central value is known as variation.
The measures of variation will enable you to know how varied the observations are,
whether there are extreme values in the distribution, or whether the values are very close
to each other. If the measure of variation is zero, it means that there is no variation at all
and that the observations are all alike, or homogenous. Otherwise, heterogeneous. The
common measures of variation are the range, mean absolute deviation, variance,
standard deviation, coefficient of variation, quartile deviation, and the percentile range.

5.2 Range
The range is the simplest form of measuring the variation of a distribution.
To get the range, subtract the lowest score or observation from the highest score.

Range (R) = Highest Observation – Lowest Observation

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Example 1:

A group of scientists went on an expedition to the mountain range in Sierra

Madre, Philippines to study the different species of plants existing in that area. The
ages of the scientists are 34, 35, 45, 56, 32, 25, and 40. What is the range of their
ages?

Solution: Highest Age = 56

Lowest Age = 25

R = Highest – Lowest
R = 56 – 25
R = 31

Therefore, the range of their ages is 31.

If the size of the population or sample is large, the range is not an excellent
measure of variation because it will only consider the highest and lowest values
and will not tell anything about the values between them. If one is interested in the
position of each observation relative to the mean of the set of data, other measures
of variation may be necessary. One such measure is the mean of absolute
deviation.

5.3 Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD)

To find the mean absolute deviation, subtract the mean score from each raw score,
then, using the absolute values of the differences, get the sum of the results. The sum is
called the sum of the deviations from the mean. Next, divide this sum by N, the total
number of cases. In symbols,

̅
∑ |𝑥− 𝑥|
𝑀𝐴𝐷 = (for ungrouped data)
𝑁

Where MAD = mean absolute deviation

x = raw score
𝑥̅ = 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒
N = number of observations

̅
∑ 𝑓|𝑥− 𝑥|
𝑀𝐴𝐷 = (for grouped data)
𝑁

Where MAD = mean absolute deviation

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f = frequency
x = class mark
𝑥̅ = 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒
N = number of observations

Example 2:

Take the MAD of the ages of the scientists in example 1.

Solution:

The ages of the scientists are 34, 35, 45, 56, 32, 25, and 40.

34+35+45+56+32+25+40
Mean Age: 𝑥̅ = = 38.14
7

x 𝑥 − 𝑥̅ ̅
|𝑥 − 𝑥|
34 - 4.14 4.14
35 - 3.14 3.14
45 6.86 6.86
56 17.86 17.86
32 - 6.14 6.14
25 - 13.14 13.14
40 1.86 1.86
Total 53.14

̅
∑ |𝑥− 𝑥|
𝑀𝐴𝐷 =
𝑁

53.14
𝑀𝐴𝐷 = = 7.59
7

Therefore, the mean absolute deviation is 7.59.

5.4 Variance

Variance is another measure of variation which can be used instead of the range.
The variance considers the deviation of each observation from the mean. To obtain
the variance of a distribution, first, square the deviation from the mean of each raw
score and add them together. Then, divide the resulting sum by N or the total
number of cases.

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a. Population Variance for Ungrouped Data

∑ 𝑓(𝑥− 𝑢)2
𝜎𝑁2 =
𝑁

where 𝜎𝑁2 = population variance

x = raw score
u = population mean
N = number of observations

b. Sample Variance for Ungrouped Data

2 ∑(𝑥− 𝑥̅ )2
𝑠𝑁−1 =
𝑁−1

2
where 𝑠𝑁−1 = sample variance
x = raw score
𝑥̅ = sample mean
N = number of observations

c. Population Variance for Grouped Data

∑ 𝑓(𝑥− 𝑢)2
𝜎𝑁2 =
𝑁

where 𝜎𝑁2 = population variance

f = frequency
x = class mark
u = population mean
N = number of observations

d. Sample Variance for Grouped Data

2
2 𝑁 ∑ 𝑓𝑥 2 −( ∑ 𝑓𝑥)
𝑠𝑁−1 =
𝑁 (𝑁−1)

2
where 𝑠𝑁−1 = sample variance
N = number of observations

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f = frequency
x = class mark

Except when specified that the population variance is to be used, you will
always use the sample variance formula in the examples and exercises
throughout the book.

Example 3:

Find the population and sample variances of the following distribution:

34, 35, 45, 56, 32, 25, and 40

Solution:

267
𝑥̅ = 7 = 38.14

x |𝑥 − 𝑥̅ | (𝑥 − 𝑥̅ )2
34 4.14 17.14
35 3.14 9.86
45 6.86 47.06
56 17.86 318.98
32 6.14 37.70
25 13.14 172.66
40 1.86 3.46
Total = 267 53.14 606.86

a. Population Variance

∑(𝑥− 𝑢)2
𝜎𝑁2 =
𝑁

606.86
𝜎𝑁2 =
7

𝜎𝑁2 = 86.70

b. Sample Variance

2 ∑(𝑥− 𝑥̅ )2
𝑠𝑁−1 =
𝑁−1

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2 606.86
𝑠𝑁−1 =
6

2
𝑠𝑁−1 = 101.14

Example 4:

Compute for the population and sample variances for the data in table 6.1.

Table 5.1
IQ Scores

IQ Scores f x fx x2 fx2 𝑓(𝑥 − 𝑥̅ )2

75 – 79 10 77 770 5,929 59,290 1,876.9
80 – 84 12 82 984 6,724 80,688 908.28
85 – 89 25 87 2,175 7,569 189,225 342.25
90 – 94 34 92 3,128 8,464 287,776 57.46
95 – 99 19 97 1,843 9,409 178,771 754.11
100 – 104 15 102 1,530 10,404 156,060 1,915.35
N = 115 10,430 951,810 5,854.35

10,430
𝑥̅ = 115 = 90.70

Solution:

a. Sample Variance

2
2 𝑁 ∑ 𝑓𝑥 2 −( ∑ 𝑓𝑥)
𝑠𝑁−1 =
𝑁 (𝑁−1)

2 115 (951,810)−(10,430)2
𝑠𝑁−1 =
115 (115−1)

2 109,458,150−108,784,900
𝑠𝑁−1 =
13,110

2
𝑠𝑁−1 = 51.35

b. Population Variance

∑ 𝑓(𝑥− 𝑢)2
𝜎𝑁2 =
𝑁

5,854.35
𝜎𝑁2 =
115

𝜎𝑁2 = 50.91

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5.5 Standard Deviation

The standard deviation, σ for a population or s for a sample, is the square root of
the value of the variance. In symbols,

a. Population Standard Deviation (σ)

𝜎 = √𝜎𝑁2

∑(𝑥− 𝑢)2
𝜎= √
𝑁

b. Sample Standard Deviation (s)

2
𝑠 = √𝑠𝑁−1

∑(𝑥− 𝑥̅ )2
𝑠= √
𝑁−1

Unless specified, the sample standard deviation will be used in all the
examples and exercises throughout the book.

Example 5:

Compute for the population and sample standard deviations for the data in table
6.1

Solution:

a. Population Variance

𝜎𝑁2 = 50.91

Therefore, the value of the population standard deviation is

𝜎 = √50.91

𝜎 = 7.14

b. Sample Standard Deviation (s)

2
𝑠𝑁−1 = 51.35

The sample standard deviation is

𝑠 = √51.35

𝑠 = 7.17

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Example 6:

Find the standard deviation for the distribution in table 6.2.

Table 6.2
Scores in the Statistics Final Exam

Class Interval f x fx fx2

27 – 29 12 28 336 9,408
30 – 32 23 31 713 22,103
33 – 35 60 34 2,040 69,360
36 – 38 45 37 1,665 61,605
39 – 41 51 40 2,040 81,600
42 – 44 75 43 3,225 138,675
45 – 47 28 46 1,288 59,248
48 – 50 33 49 1,617 79,233
51 – 53 18 52 936 48,672
54 – 56 10 55 550 30,250
355 14,410 600,154

14,410
𝑥̅ = 355 = 40.59

2
2 𝑁 ∑ 𝑓𝑥 2 −( ∑ 𝑓𝑥)
𝑠𝑁−1 =
𝑁 (𝑁−1)

2 355 (600,154)−(14,410)2
𝑠𝑁−1 =
355 (355−1)

2 5,406,570
𝑠𝑁−1 =
125,670

2
𝑠𝑁−1 = 43.02

𝑠 = √43.02

𝑠 = 6.56

Therefore, the standard deviation of the scores is 6.56.

Prepared by: Engr. Christel Nunez